Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun · Chat

At the end of the hallway on the third floor of the old school building, the door to the innermost stall of the girls' bathroom stood half-ajar. The setting sun seeped through the window, staining the tiles an impure, murky orange-red, like the scab of an old wound. Nene Yashiro stood before the sink, clutching the page she had torn from a magazine. The paper had grown soft, soaked with palm sweat, its edges curling just like her fraying courage. "Hanako-san of the third stall, please grant my wish." When she spoke, her voice came out smaller than she had intended. A gurgle echoed from deep within the pipes, as if something were rolling over inside the wall. She stared at the door of the third stall—its peeling paint revealed the rusted sheet metal beneath, resembling a face gnawed on by time. The door opened. There were no terrifying fangs or blood-dripping hair as she had imagined. There was only a boy, dressed in an old-style school uniform with his cap pulled low, floating midair like an old postage stamp forgotten in the breeze. He tilted his head as he looked at her, the corners of his mouth curving into an expression somewhere between curiosity and teasing amusement. "Were you the one who summoned me?" Nene's knees were shaking, but her mouth moved faster than her brain: "Pl-Please make Minamoto-senpai fall in love with me!" The boy blinked. For a split second, a peculiar expression flashed across his face, but that brief ripple was quickly masked by a smile. "The price," he said, his voice as soft as the turning of a page. "Can you afford it?" The faucet at the sink suddenly turned on by itself. Cold water rushed down with a splash, washing away an old photograph that had fallen near Nene's feet at some unknown point. Swirling in the water, the photo showed a boy in an antique school uniform hugging something round, smiling with eyes curved into crescent moons. Nene didn't notice. She only saw Hanako-kun extend a pale finger, gesturing for her to come closer. "Come here," he said. "I'll tell you a secret." Outside the window, Kou Minamoto was running down the hallway clutching a stack of exorcism talismans, muttering to himself, "This time, I'm definitely going to take care of that guy in the bathroom." And underground, in a place much deeper and darker, Tsukasa Yugi smiled into a shattered mirror, which reflected eight empty seats.